Livin' & Fishin' The Southern Life.

[Moosebunk]

Thanks again for the replies from all who did, sadly missing some from buddies. I was half expecting to get a little hate-mail here for keeping a big tagged Nipigon speck... but for those whom may have been offended, thanks for respecting my wishes and the report.

 

25 out of 28 speckles on the week did go back to swim another day. One was legal, kept and eaten because of a fatal gill wound and going belly up right away on release, and one other fish will be headed to the wall beside mine.

[scuro2]

How can you hate anything about a report like that. If there is one guy who respects fish, it is you. I've seen you upset when something goes wrong and a fish may die needlessly. Your fishing Karma is still way in the positive.

[ciceri]

Some beautiful Brookies and Gars, well done.

[danc]

Thanks again for the replies from all who did, sadly missing some from buddies. I was half expecting to get a little hate-mail here for keeping a big tagged Nipigon speck... but for those whom may have been offended, thanks for respecting my wishes and the report.

 

 

Hey Bud... There's absolutely nothing wrong with keeping a fish of that size from the system that you caught it in. The 22" minimum has only been in effect for a few short years and already the dividends are showing. I heard a lot of grumbling from some locals when that came into effect, but I just bit my tongue and said nothing in reply. The rule makes perfect sense. Personally I don't like catching tagged fish. I'd rather catch a virgin any day. But apparently the data collected from tagged fish is valuable. One of the reasons for the tagging program was to observe the growth rate of these fish. That was concluded several years ago when the MNR produced a chart for fishermen that says what their fish weighs by length and girth without weighing it. The idea was good, but I phoned in a tag number or two and was told that the fish was an inch longer when tagged, than it was a year later when I caught it. The weights were also very questionable. The weights of a fish the same length and girth varied by as much as 25%. So I'm not sure how valuable this data was. Personally I think that there was some competition between data collectors which made for false results.

 

Anyways, do you realize that I've only seen one or two fish of that size in the last 20 years of fishing "the system"?? Enjoy it Drew. I'll beat it eventually. And you'll be in the boat with me. And we'll celebrate afterwords. Until you beat it the next day. DOH!!!

 

Congrats Bud. Another awesome report.

[Ramble]

Brag, Brag, Brag. LMAO

[Matt15]

Amazing report, thanks for sharing. those were some nice gators you guys caught.

[Stern Rules]

Nice pics and love those brookies.

[solopaddler]

So Bunk just dropped by and says to me, "What did you think of my big spec dood?".

"What big spec?" says I.

He standing behind me as I type this LOL!

 

Amazing fish, amazing post and a beautiful new house buddy, congrat's!

Edited November 12, 2009 by solopaddler